‘Abstract

As Smith points out, the genealogy of liberal democracy demonstrates that liberalism is nothing less than the prodigal son of Christianity. Thus, it becomes plausible that Christianity has a continuing role to play in a liberal democracy. Smith might even be right that it is not so much common grace and natural law, but rather Christianity exclusively, on which liberal democracy is dependent. Constitutional lawyers and political scientists would indeed be well-advised to be more generous in integrating theological insights as well into their work in order to find this out for themselves.

On 6-7 June 2019, I will be participating in the above conference. My presentation is entitled ‘The Codification of an Expanding Number of Human Rights and the Ideal of Self-Government.’

During the presentation, I will, among other things, discuss the recent announcement by the U.S. Department of State of the establishment of a Department of State Commission on Unalienable Rights. The purpose of the Commission is to ‘provide the Secretary of State advice and recommendations concerning international human rights matters. The Commission will provide fresh thinking about human rights discourse where such discourse has departed from our nation’s founding principles of natural law and natural rights.’

The full abstract of my presentation reads as follows:

If there is one word which sums up the ideal underlying modern Western political orders, it is self-government. Since 1945, the West, and in particular (Western) Europe, has witnessed the rise of modern constitutional practice. To be sure, the American and French Revolutions of the late 18th century already marked a transition from traditional to modern constitutionalism, but this modern constitutionalism somehow remained connected to traditional constitutionalism through the diverse intellectual tradition of natural law and natural rights discoverable by human reason.

Several developments after the Second World War have led to the face of modern constitutionalism changing dramatically, however. Taken together, these developments raise the question if, and to what extent, the ideal of self-government is still realized under modern constitutional practice?

One development that has impacted modern constitutional practice is the codification of an expanding number of human rights. Thus, since World War II, several international and regional codifications have taken place. Moreover, in addition to the more traditional civil and political rights, social and economic rights have also been developed. In recent decades, so-called third- generation rights are also distinguished, such as environmental rights.

At the same time, historians have already started to raise the question of whether human rights, with the advantage of hindsight, may not prove to have been more of a temporary phenomenon than was initially thought. Perhaps even more provocatively, human rights activist Aaron Rhodes, has in a 2018 book raised the question: how can an ideal that was originally emancipatory, such as that of human rights, become so ‘debased’?

The first section of the proposed paper will attempt to answer precisely this question, against the background of the theoretical framework set out above. Should the human rights component of modern constitutional practice not conform to the standards that modern constitutionalism set out to achieve, this subsequently makes an inquiry into which amendments to both the theory and the practice of modern constitutionalism in the area of human rights are required with a view to their continuing legitimacy indispensable. Such an effort will, if necessary, be undertaken in the second part of the paper.

“Volgens Tocqueville,, ‘[r]eligion in America takes no direct part in the government of society, but it must nevertheless be regarded as the foremost of the political institutions of that country’ (Vol. I, p. 313). De van oorsprong Canadese, thans aan Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI verbonden filosoof James K.A. Smith sluit hier in zijn recente trilogie Cultural Liturgies in feite bij aan. Zonder Tocqueville bij name te noemen, stelt hij dat ‘[t]he history of Western liberal democracy is one filled with craters from the impact of the gospel’ (III, 120].

This is a study about the law’s accommodation of religious practice and the brewing revolution within the legal profession against that accommodation. The revolution is especially evident, though not exclusively so, in sexual equality claims vis-à-vis religion. Originally, the study asked, “Why has religion been given special status in the law?” and “Should that status continue?” As a result of intense, multiyear research, I have come to recognize that there is within the legal profession a strident movement to remove from the law the traditional accommodation of religion. This study likens this phenomenon to a revolution, using Thomas S. Kuhn’s theory of scientific revolutions to analyze this development. This revolution manifested itself in the Trinity Western University law school case. Legal revolutions were contrasted from scientific revolutions in their goals, methodology, and perspectives. These differences are based in the varying values and desired outcomes of each discipline.

It is concluded that the legal revolution against religious accommodation is due to the law’s inability to answer critics of religion who favour sexual equality rights. There is on display a “rights inflation” phenomenon where the demands of equality rights have come to eclipse the legal norm of religious accommodation even in the private sphere. What was once considered private, such as running religious universities, is now viewed as public because of the state’s regulation of such institutions. This is a new phenomenon which threatens every publicly regulated religious enterprise.’

Posted onApril 16, 2019|Comments Off on Upcoming Speaking Engagement: The Spirit of Populism. Political Theologies in Polarized Times

Looking forward to participating in the above international and interdisciplinary conference, School of Divinity, New College, Edinburgh, 2-3 September 2019.

The description of the conference theme reads as follows:

‘Is populism on the rise? Across the political spectrum, populism is considered a catch-all category to be critiqued: describing something as populist and dismissing something as populist go hand in hand. But theological justifications of populism, such as the identification of Christianity with Europe, resonate with mainstream political positions that are articulated and accepted in the public square.

The critique of populism parallels and points to a critique of the role of theology in politics. This critique can come either as a rejection of the politicization of theology (presupposing that genuine theology ought to be non-political) or as a rejection of the theologization of politics (presupposing that genuine politics ought to be non-theological). What runs through these critiques is the assumption that claims to theology cause the populist polarization of the public square. Is populism yet another resurrection of Carl Schmitt? Whether populism is interpreted as an authentic account of religion or as an inauthentic appropriation of religion for political ends, it needs to be carefully examined and critically explored. Does theology in politics automatically lead to populism? Does populism automatically lead to theology in politics? What indeed is the role of political theologies in polarized times?

About me

Hans-Martien ten Napel, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law at Leiden University in the Netherlands, where he is also Research Fellow of the Leiden Law School and Affiliated Member of the Center for the Study of Political Parties and Representation. In addition, he is a Member of the Netherlands Network for Human Rights Research. Before his transfer to the law faculty, he taught at a Department of Political Science and was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies at Harvard University (Cambridge, MA).

He teaches the Bachelor of Laws elective course on the Law of Democracy and a Master of Laws elective course on Comparative Constitutional Law and served as a coach on the extracurricular Leiden Leadership Programme. In addition, he is currently co-supervising three Ph.D. projects.

In 2014 he was awarded a Research Fellowship in Legal Studies at the Center of Theological Inquiry in Princeton, NJ, which enabled him to be in full-time residence at CTI for the academic year 2014-2015. In 2017 he received a ‘seed money grant for frontier research’ from the Leiden profile area Interaction Between Legal Systems.

His work has appeared in European Constitutional Law Review, European Public Law, Journal of Interreligious Studies, Journal of Markets and Morality, Muslim World Journal of Human Rights and Oxford Journal of Law and Religion. He was also co-editor and co-author of two recent volumes, Regulating Political Parties: European Democracies in Comparative Perspective (2014) and The Powers That Be. Rethinking the Separation of Powers (2015).

Since 2015, he is a member of the editorial board of the Tijdschrift voor Religie, Recht en Beleid(Journal of Religion, Law, and Policy). In 2017, he published, as the fruit of his research fellowship, the monograph Constitutionalism, Democracy and Religious Freedom. To Be Fully Human (Routledge).

‘Abstract As Smith points out, the genealogy of liberal democracy demonstrates that liberalism is nothing less than the prodigal son of Christianity. Thus, it becomes plausible that Christianity has a continuing role to play in a liberal democracy. Smith might … Continue reading →

On 6-7 June 2019, I will be participating in the above conference. My presentation is entitled ‘The Codification of an Expanding Number of Human Rights and the Ideal of Self-Government.’ During the presentation, I will, among other things, discuss the … Continue reading →

Looking forward to participating in the above international and interdisciplinary conference, School of Divinity, New College, Edinburgh, 2-3 September 2019. The description of the conference theme reads as follows: ‘Is populism on the rise? Across the political spectrum, populism is … Continue reading →

UPDATE: Beautiful place to give a guest talk this morning: The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Distress in Heiloo, North-Holland. The lecture was on “Natural Law, Human Rights, and Religious Freedom.” The audience consisted of a group of talented leaders … Continue reading →